I write about the television business. Why networks cancel your favorite shows, why sure things don’t go to series, why the Nielsen ratings still matter, if it concerns the small screen, it concerns me too. I've studied media since college and have been covering television since 2009 for sites such as FilmSchoolRejects.com and ScreenInvasion.com. In that time I've learned it’s one of the most fascinating entertainment mediums to explore. It’s a medium that runs a million miles a minute where one week’s smash hit can be another week’s failure. It takes a trained eye to understand its complexity, and that’s what I intend to do.

The author is a Forbes contributor. The opinions expressed are those of the writer.

Review: 'Maron' Finds Its Meaning In Season Two

During its first season, Maron, the series based on the life of podcaster and comedian Marc Maron had one goal: prove it wasn’t a knock-off of FX series, Louie. But when audiences are presented with two shows that have near identical base premises, how do you go about separating them? The answer is through character. Louie’s very much a show that exists in a hyper-reality, as if it were a fever dream being experienced by the real Louis C.K., Maron doesn’t take that route. While situations are still crazy, they aren’t removed from reality the way Louie is, and it’s this trend the show has maintained in the second season while also diving deeper into the psychology of its title character.

What’s always been praise worthy about Maron is its acceptance that not every viewer has heard of the WTF Podcast. When the series begins in season one, it begins at the origins of the famed series, and by starting there, the show was allowed to diverge into a world where not everything worked out for Marc. This idea is what turns the show into a fleshed out world full of legitimate, three dimensional characters. Even people with established real-life careers and friendly associations with Marc, like Chris Hardwick, are transformed into versions of themselves that, arguably, the real-life Marc once feared they were.

Maron has become a “what if?” reality to the real-life counter-part in season two. What if the podcast didn’t completely revitalize Marc’s career? What if people still viewed him as the cynical man he once was in early life? It appears the series has tried to dive deep into the fear of Marc Maron, but more importantly, dive deep into the fear we all experience when life finally allows us a modicum of success. The fascinating psychology of the series comes in the form of Marc’s fear that, that success could be stripped from him as quickly as it originally came.

From an outsider’s perspective, Maron’s fictionalized version of hismelf has achieved large success. He’s invited to appear on talk-shows, he’s able to pay his mortgage while still doing what he enjoys and he’s found ways to spend his free-time in non-self-destructive ways. But for the character, things are not as light as they appear to the audience. His close friends are recluse, his family life is, in the best of times, difficult to manage and his personal life is still in need of adjustment. But these are all problems only seen by Marc himself, not by those around him.

What separates Maron from Louie is Maron allows its main character to experience joy. Regardless of how he himself may perceive it, any outsider would look upon Marc with just a tiny amount of envy. He lives a career that doesn’t require him to work 9 to 5, he has an assistant that’s loyal to him, his head seems somewhat on straight and he has the respect of his colleagues, many of whom are genuinely willing to assist when necessary. In season two, Maron has found the “meaning behind the meaning” it wants to portray: a look at the psychology behind success and how many times we can’t perceive it internally, even when it’s indeed in the process of happening. That’s the strength the real-life Maron was able to bring to the series in order to differentiate it from the competition.

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